The present invention relates generally to a mechanism for supporting a mirrored surface or other such arrangement and more particularly to a spherical mount adjustment mechanism having a non-floating center of adjustment.
The type of support mechanism to which the present invention is particularly directed is a spherical mount adjustment mechanism which will be described in more detail hereinafter. For the moment, it suffices to say that such a mechanism typically includes an annular surface which forms part of a sphere whose center defines the intersection of a pair of intersecting perpendicular axes, which, in turn, defines a particular reference plane. The intended function of the spherical mount adjustment mechanism is to adjustably position a particular arrangement, for example, a mirrored surface, relative to that plane. It does so by supporting the mirrored surface or other such arrangement against the annular surface by suitable bearing means for limited pivotal movement back and forth about the two intersecting axes. In this way, the mirrored surface or other such arrangement can be oriented in a number of different ways relative to the particular plane.
While a spherical mount adjustment mechanism of the type briefly described above is generally satisfactory for adjustably positioning a given arrangement such as a mirrored surface relative to a particular plane, all such arrangements of which applicant is aware have what applicant refers to as floating center points. More specifically, applicant has found that when the typical prior art adjustment mechanism is used to pivot a mirrored surface for example about the two intersecting axes which defines its associated reference plane, the point on the mirrored surface intended to coincide with the intersection of these axes tends to float to a limited extent, that is, moves in a some what unpredictable manner. This, in turn, makes it difficult to position the mirrored surface at precisely the desired orientation relative to its reference plane. On the otherhand, any attempts to lock this center point in place will tend to cause the mirrored surface to rotate in an uncontrolled manner about the locked in point or will cause the support points to bind. Thus, the use of the term "floating center" herein will also refer to the uncontrolled rotation and binding possibilities.